The Legend of Rift Book 1: Crushed Dreams
by 1dchouseman
Summary: Based within The Legend of Spyro: A Newcomer by The Constitutionalist. After a group of apes ambush and kill his girlfriend, Rift seeks revenge at any cost. But what happens when he runs into a human and two dragoness' that he must join?
1. Chapter 1

****This story is not set in the same story as _The Fire Within_. It sets the stage for Rift's upcoming debut in The Constitutionalist's story, _A Newcomer_.

**Valley of Avalar, 1:35 P.M., 2.5 Years after the Defeat of Malefor...**

"Rift, wake up."

"Uuuggghhh."

"Seriously, get up, Now!"  
"Just five more hours."  
"Alright, you asked for it."  
"Zarah... why does it feel like something is crawling on my..."  
At that, Rift, a teenage, fire dragon opened his eyes to find one of his worst fears sitting on his snout; a large, venomous, spider. He quickly moves his head up to try to knock the foul beast off. He is successful, but is unable to avoid his head hitting the wall of the cave he slept in. He recoiled in pain, saying everything that passed his lips. A few minutes later, the pain subsided, allowing him to turn his attention to the one that had put the spider on him in the first place; his girlfriend, Zarah, was literally laughing her ass off. When she regained control, she watched as Rift slowly walked out of the cave, obviously scared out of his mind.

A minute passed and he arrived at a lake. His reflection stands a fairly, well-built form, looking similar to Spyro, muscular, but about two inches shorter than Zarah. His shape was accompanied by his orange body color, as well as metallic silver horns, tail spade, and underbelly. He thought about how easily a mere spider, hundreds of times smaller than him, could send him screaming like a mole. "Hmph, some dragon you are. If a tiny spider did that, then what makes you think that you deserve her?"

The her in question, was Zarah. She was an all white, wind dragon. They met in a forest after their parents died during Malefor's return. She was the only thing he still had. During recent weeks, he had been hoping for the perfect opportunity to ask her to be his mate, but now, he was doubting that he even deserved her.

"What do I have that other dragons don't? I'm not very outgoing, I don't socialize well, I don't like rain or cold, I can't swim, and spiders send me screaming, so what do I have going for me?"

"You care."

Rift turned his head to see Zarah walking up to him. He sighed, and looked back at his reflection.

"Any dragon could do that."

"No, you are wrong, look at me!" By now, Zarah was right by his side. When he looked into her eyes, she continued.

"Let me ask you, when the apes tried to sacrifice me to Malefor a few years ago, did anyone else attempt to save me?"

"N-no."

"But you did Rift. Not only that, you literally annihilated thousands of apes with your fury. You were even willing to die to save me. No other dragon would have done that. If that doesn't speak for itself, nothing will."

With that, Zarah smiled, and so did Rift. After a hug and kiss, the two set out for food.

**A few hours later...**

This was it, Rift was going to ask her the question. Earlier he had asked for them to go for a walk, to which she happily agreed. They arrived at a cliff to watch the sunset, and it was now or never. Rift was mentally preparing. He turned to her and took a deep breath.

"Hey Zarah?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking alot about something, and I think it's time to ask."

"Ask what?

"I was wondering if you would be my..." (Whack!)

Rift felt something hit the back of his head hard and was knocked unconscious. The last thing he heard before he blacked out was the terrified screams of Zarah.

He didn't know when he woke, nor where he was, nor what happened. All he knew was the dark clouds, rain, thunder, and lightning set a depressing feeling. Then it all came back to him. He didn't hesitate to search for Zarah. Minutes later, Rift saw a form laying under a tree in front of him. Blood staining the dirt around it. Lightning flashed, showing the forms white scales. Rift's heart sank as he bolted to the form, hoping it wasn't what it looked like. It was; the one thing he lived for; the one thing that held him together. Laying in front of him, was the lifeless body of Zarah.

He sat down and held her body, praying, this was just a nightmare. Tears began to fall freely as his heart was completely shattered and emotions set in. He looked at the ground nearby and saw a sword, making it obvious that the apes killed her. With a pained roar, he unleashed all of his emotions into a wall of fire hundreds of feet high.

He didn't know how many days had passed since the event. Possibly four or five. During the first day, he had buried her next to the lake where they would always go to relax. The days following, Rift stayed in the cave, only leaving when hunger forced him too. He then decided that the apes would pay dearly for the death of his girl, even if he died trying, as his heart died with Zarah.

The next day, Rift walked to Zarah's grave. He sighed as he spoke.

"I'm sorry. You trusted me with your life and I let them take it. I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you needed me most. And I'm sorry for not being the dragon I should have been. I love you."

And with that, Rift took off. His goal; obliterate every ape in Dante's Freezer.

* * *

So that is the longest, and most emotional, writing I have ever done at one time! Thanks to the Constitutionalist for taking Rift to bigger and better places.


	2. Chapter 2

Cynder the Dragon is property of Sierra Games.

Rift, Brutor, Rift's Parents, and Zarah are property of 1dchouseman Films.

Mera the Dragon belongs to The Constitutionalist.

* * *

Only three days had passed since Rift had left what he had called home for many years. He knew that the apes that killed Zarah were hiding in their Stronghold in Dante's Freezer, it was the closest ape stronghold at only a seven day trip. Rift was sure of that as he eliminated all other strongholds around many years ago.

On this day, Rift arrived at the remains of the dragon village of Dragon's Claw. The population annihilated during Malefor's return, including his parents, Zarah's parents, and their houses. The attack on Dragon's Claw was the reason for Rift eliminating all nearby ape strongholds.

Sighing, Rift decided to land in hopes of finding something of use in the ruins. By the end of the day, he found nothing. As he was about to leave, a glimmer caught his eyes. Walking over to where his house once was, he finds a scroll with a note attached. Looking over the note, he realized it was addressed to him by his late father.

_Dear son,_

_If you are reading this, it means that Dragon's Claw has fallen, and you are all that's left of this place. We had a feeling this would happen sooner or later, it was only a matter of time. Chances are, your mother and I did not make it through this battle alive. The scroll that this letter is attached to will hopefully never be needed, but should you be placed in a position of certain death, at least you can still take the bastards out. The scroll will teach you of a new fire technique to be used only when absolutely necessary. It's called "Super Nova." It's uses your elemental energy and life force to create a blast that obliterates any living creature within a fifty mile radius, at the expense of your life. To learn this move is simple, simply open the scroll, place your paw in the center, and clear your mind, the knowledge will be absorbed into your mind. Take caution though, this new power is unstable and will linger in your mind, waiting until you are at your most vulnerable to consume you. I love you,_

_Dad._

After shedding some tears, Rift proceeded to open, and place his paw on the scroll. In that moment, the scroll glowed as an almost unbearable amount of energy flowed throughout his body. When it was over, the remains of the scroll disintegrated. _Snap!_ Rift whipped around in a battle stance as an ape walks in front of him, a disturbing smile on his face, and an iron axe in his hands. Rift snarled and growled as the ape spoke;

"Welcome, dragon, I am Brutor, third in command of the Dante's Freezer stronghold. We had a feeling you would heading through here at some point so I stayed here to finish you off, and to tell you about the fun we had with your little dragoness before she perished..."

Gritting his teeth and smoke puffing out of his nose, Rift had to use every bit of self control to keep from killing the ape before all info was revealed. Brutor continued;

"She was quite scared when you were knocked out, but put up a pretty good fight. Took all of us to restrain her, we managed to tie her up thanks to a purple crystal... ah, I will never forget the satisfaction of her agonized screams as we had our way with her, her begging us to stop..."

With that, Rift's self control was gone. The ground shook violently as Rift released an angry roar and took after the surprised ape with extraordinary speed. Brutor didn't have time to react as Rift pounced on him, knocking the axe out of his hand. Rift wasted no time as he brutally punched the ape in the face repeatedly. Bringing his head back, Rift moved to head-butt Brutor, but Brutor was quick, and grabbed Rifts horns, stopping the attack. In retaliation, Rift brought his paw down on the ape's throat, causing it to gasp in pain, and released Rift's horns. Seeing the opportunity, Rift turned his head and thrust one of his horns through the ape's jaw. With Brutor temporarily incapacitated, Rift jumped into the air and performed a Comet Dash, now completely disabling Brutor. Seeing this as his only chance, Rift brings his jaw around the ape's throat and clamped down, cutting through flesh and muscle before tearing it out violently. Brutor was dead, a pool of blood beginning to form around his mortal wound.

Rift spat the blood in his mouth at the corpse of the ape and took off, trying to reach Dante's Freezer during the night.

* * *

The next day, Rift arrived in Dante's Freezer. Immediately he was struck with the cold snow and air, shivering as he knew he would be here a few days. Looking at his surroundings, he could see the Ape Stronghold to the north, a cave to the west, and a mole to the right. Turning his head back to the mole who was staring at him, Rift realized he was caught. In an act of desperation, he unleashed enough energy to temporarily blind the Mole, and took off towards the cave. Once inside, he heard the mole shout, now recovering from the move.

"Troops, prepare our return back to Warfang! I must inform Terrador of something that may be of his interest." At that the moles prepared their ships, and set sail for Warfang, and Rift took cautious steps out of the cave. When he was sure there was no one around, he returned to the cave and started to plan out his revenge. It only took a few days to figure it out. He would walk to a flat area surrounded by hills and create a huge fire ball. This in turn would all the apes to come and find the cause. He would then activate Super Nova killing himself and all the apes.

One week after first arriving at Dante's Freezer, it was time. After talking himself through what he was about to do, as well as swallowing whatever fear he had, he started walking to what he dubbed "No Man's Land." Looking over a hill, he gasped. There was a battle occurring, a large number of apes against two dragonesses. Holding back the anger of being unable to end everything with dragons in the potential blast zone, he speeds over to an ape that was sneaking up behind the dragonesses and knocked it back, starling the dragonesses. Looking at them, Rift states; "Name's Rift, yours?"

The black dragon responded for both. "I'm Cynder, and this is Mera." she pointed her tail towards the light green, yellow bellied dragoness with her.

Rift glares at the apes. "Nice to meet both of you, now let's take out these motherfuckers!" At that, the apes started to lunge towards all three dragons.

* * *

I did it! After TWO long years, I broke the thousand word barrier! In other news, with permission form The Constitutionalist, Crushed Dreams will continue through his story, A Newcomer, through Rift's perspective, and beyond. I even have the end planned out. Hope to update in a few weeks.

Hit It With A Nuke!

-1dchouseman


	3. Chapter 3

Did Hell just freeze over? Did I really upload a new chapter? Yes I did! Enjoy!

Chapter was Beta Read by **The Constitutionalist**.

Disclaimer: Cynder is property of whoever the hell owns the Spyro Franchise at this moment.

OC Disclaimer: _**Alex**_, **_Mera_**, and the story line of **_A Newcomer: Book 1 _**belongs to **The Constitutionalist**.

This chapter takes place in Chapters 18-19 of _**A Newcomer: Book 1**_ by **The Constitutionalist.**

* * *

Ten apes he could handle at one time, but Fifty? Looking at the two dragoness's on either side of him, he decided to take a chance. With burning speed (pun intended,) Rift charged at a few apes before getting knocked back. "That was the worst plan ever, of all time." Rift mumbled. Getting back up, Rift started using his element, burning a few apes to a crisp. Hearing behind him a knife, Rift, Cynder, and Mera looked to see some sort of hairless ape in some armor, his hand holding a knife into the back of an ape. "Alex, how did you get up here!? How are you alive!?" Cynder asked, calming Rift down knowing he wasn't another dumbass ape. "I'll explain later, but for now, we need to get out of here. There are too many apes to handle all at once." The thing replied, removing the knife out of the ape. Not wanting to trust this "thing," Rift asked with hostility; "Who and what the fuck are you?" "Not the best time right now... We need to move!" Demanded Alex. The four were able to fight out of the ambush and ran into a nearby cave. With Cynder and Mera looking ahead, Rift decided to get some answers from this new guy. (Or was Rift the new guy?)

"So who and what are you anyways?" Rift asked. The guy answered flatly; "Alex Truman, I'm human." after some back and fourth questions involving the idea that Alex lived in water, Alex started to question Rift. "Who are you anyways?" "The name's Rift, don't wear it out." Rift responded with sarcasm, still unsure of this non-aquatic Marine. They both heard Mera yell out "I see a way to get out, it's through the back of this cave's waterhole. It's the only way I see that we can get through." For a second, Rift paled and slowed down at the word "waterhole." "Aw Crap..." "What is it?" Alex asked, confused at Rift's sudden remark. "I, fucking, hate, water." Was all Rift could say, distaste very obvious.

"Damn it! That waterhole is the only safe way to escape those apes and you fear water!?" Alex asked with a face that said "you gotta be fucking kidding me." Angered by what Alex asked, Rift spat back; "I don't fear it, I hate it!" It was a lie, Rift was absolutely terrified of water. Any water that went up to his chin would cause a panic attack. Past failed attempts at learning to swim ended the same as always, nearly drowning. He was not going to admit his fear to anyone he didn't trust, and at the moment , he trusted no one. "Rift, I really don't need this crap now. Are you afraid of drowning, is that it?" Alex asked, knowing the apes were closing in. Rift shouted his response in an attempt to end the conversation; "I SAID I'M NOT AFRAID DAMN IT! I just hate water." Alex looked to the side of the waterhole, and asked curiously; "How good are you at climbing?" Rift was confused at the comment but responded; "I'm great at climbing, why?" Alex looked with what would likely be a smile behind his helmet. "There's a gap between the water and the top of the hole that you can use to escape, without getting wet." At that, Alex had the dragons climb while he held some apes off.

After reaching the other side, Rift went to work torching some branches for a fire as Cynder and Mera settled on the ground chatting about girl stuff. As Rift sat down, Mera sighed; "I hope Alex is okay." Cynder then brought up the question, "You like him, don't you?" "He's my friend, of course I do." Rift snorted at Mera's remark; "That's the understatement of the year, every time you look at the guy, your eyes almost turn into hearts. You want him to be more than just a friend and you know it," Mera looked sheepishly as Rift continued; "...so... would you call them Hugons of Dragmans?" Mera's face turned deep red and Cynder yelled back at him; "RIFT! Quit embarrassing her." Rift nodded, respecting her demand.

When Alex entered the cavern, he exchanged some friendly words with Cynder when Rift spat out with sarcasm and a hint of jealousy; "Must've been badass to have held your breath for that long, huh Alex?" The human ignored him and went to Mera asking her why she was acting so strange. Rift smiled, as much as he wanted the group to think of him as heartless, seeing Mera and Alex bickering reminded him of how he and Zarah had acted in the beginning of their relationship. Turning his head, he looked at Cynder who whispered; "You get an F for not showing emotions." Alex and Mera finished their conversation; "Hmm... well, I wouldn't dwell on bad memories if I were you. It's not healthy and could affect your ability to focus on the more important things, like right now. We need to keep up our strength and get some rest, we still need to deal with the stronghold... Well, I'm going to sleep. I want to get this done as soon as possible with a clear head." Cynder, visibly tired, yawned; "That's probably a good idea, might as well have the jump on any apes." "Whatever." Rift responded as he slipped into sleep, unaware that his dreams were repeating over and over with Zarah's death taking it's toll on him.

* * *

I won't make any promise, but I will try to get the next chapter up before June.

Hit it with a Nuke!


End file.
